Wichita eagle., 1887-07-09
DAILY EBB AND FLOW
OF THE HUMAN TIDE BETWEEN
NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.
The Tin Bucket Erigade-Long Lines Of
People Hurrying to the Big Bridge.
Running for the Ferry Boats-The Re-
turn Tide.


People Hurryins to the Big Bridge.
Running for the Ferry Boats-The Re-
turn Tide.
1 live in Brooklyn, and every morning
and evening make one of the innumerable
throng about 200, 900, they think who
cross and recro.s East river, and See a
deal OF curious humanity in the process.
As come over at all hours from 6 to a.
m, and return with the same latitude, I
alternate my company very agreeably.
First is the tin bucket brigade; but only
see them when walk down to the bridge
before breakfast. About 5 o'clock the
throng begins. First come the scayengers
and sweepers, the women who sweep out
the Offices, the boys who do the early
morning work, the first relief of messen-
gers and their contemporaries. A little
later every car is crowded with laborers,
brawny men OF the pick and hammer;
about ~, OU0 Of them come over before Z
o'clock Then there is a lull for few
minutes; but soon after breakfast one
sees long lines Of people On all the streets
near the bridge, hurrying TO the stairs
merchants, Wall street men, clerks, shop
girls, writers and people Of a hundred
other occupations.
Before ?:30 the entrance stairs are
damned with moving humanity. The
tickets are dropped in the box below
three cents each or forty for dollar,
the cars are opened and filed in ten Sec
onds--drst corners seated, late corners
hanging Oh to the straps-then the clamp
Is turned on to the running cable and we
are whirled across to Park row in two
minutes. Each car will seat forty persons
and generally holds fifty; there are three
cars in each train, and one train min
ute; so 1900 people per hour are brought
over in the cars. The foot passengers
way, below the car track, is crowded at
the same time, and the carriage way, too;
so at least 40, 600 people come over on the
bridge every morning.
ALL THE FERRY BOATS RUNNING.
Meanwhile all the ferry boats are run
ming at their best. For two hours each
morning and evening they charge but one
cent for passage-the same as footmen pay
on the bridge; at other hours two cents.
Walking to the foot of Fulton street,
Brooklyn, any morning about 100, OBJ
serve several hundred people break into a
run al at once; the clang at the dock has
warned thsm that boat is in, and time
IS SO precious that they don't want to lose
the two minutes and half of waiting for
the next boat. But il is a well established
principle Of my constitution not to kill
myself to keep myself, and L never run
for train or boat. The roomy passenger
depots are nice places to wait in, anyhow;
but it is curious 10 see the fidgety people
press against the big iron gate, ready to
jump for the next boat as soon as it is
mads fast and the gate run back.
And il all this rrIsbiuO
good for humanity? Certainly not. 4 |
fellow is swallowed up; his individuality |
Is lost; he is not a self existent and PC |
spected man, but merely one unit in a |
vast aggregate of numbers. Nobody |
knows anybody; and from the rush for |
first place, and the push for seats, should |
guess that nobody cares for anybody. / |
have crossed on the cars a dozen times, /
and can't remember that l have seen the |
same person twice. Soon after a. N. |
there Is perceptible thinning of the |
crowds, both on bridge and ferries; then |
people Of more leisure come over, and |
from 10 O'Clock till 2 p. N. one may see |
rich dresses on the cars or elegant car |
riages on the roadway. About D. m. |
the return tide begins to rise and about |
$50 the throng is much more dense than
in the morning. The crush is awful Al
most every day some one is painfully |
squeezed agsinst the iron railing, and &C.
casiOnally some feeble one is badly bruised. |
Going over from . to 6 one sees only a |
dense crowd of wearied people; about 7 |
or $50 the return cars contain some OF |
these peopls, cooled and refreshed, bound |
for the evening entertainments in New |
York; the shop girls who went east in |
plain and shop worn dresses are now,
many of them. going west in rather elegant |
evening costumes. A dozen first class |
theatres and At least fifty second and third |
class bring some thousands; the others |
scatter among scores of churches, lyceums, |
clubs, concert halls, and social gatherings |
of every conceivable kind. Ii. BeadIe |
in Rockville Tribune